it depends on his air units that he can bring. If I am Germany and in Russia, i prefer 2 if the Soviets do not have air units, because it forces them to commit more to take it and liquidates his offensive pieces. So if i have air and my opponent does not i prefer 2. If i am on the other side i use 1 or even none depending on if i want to get him to waste a tank to try to blitz. This depends only on whether i can retake, because income is counted only after you make your moves, so losing the spot is not troublesome in most cases.
@Imperious:
it depends on his air units that he can bring. If I am Germany and in Russia, i prefer 2 if the Soviets do not have air units, because it forces them to commit more to take it and liquidates his offensive pieces. So if i have air and my opponent does not i prefer 2. If i am on the other side i use 1 or even none depending on if i want to get him to waste a tank to try to blitz. This depends only on whether i can retake, because income is counted only after you make your moves, so losing the spot is not troublesome in most cases.
Same here, this is why I try to build as many air units as I reasonably can with the USSR. I usually end uo with somewhere between 1-4 in '41, depending on the game.
I like to swap with infantry/artillery myself when playing germany, so my deadzone end up between 2 to 3 units while I keep tanks in reserve. Also enables me to keep my airforce against UK/US on the western front.
When Russia tries to go for fighters and infantry swapping, I have a tendancy to buy one or two AA guns to move to forward lines and directly within the deadzone. Since I swap with ground units, I don’t really care if the AA gun ends swapping hands each turn.
The presence of an AA gun really put the hurts on players depending on fighters/infantry swap. The hurt is more important psychologically since even if the odds are a low 1, I don’t know why, they tend to avoid sending their jets/bomber in the fray. However, when the gun does hit, the ensuing battle results in high casualties.
As Germany, overall, 2 to 3 units in deadzone backed up with AA gun. Even when traded, thoses guns works more in favor of Germany than for Allies since my playstyle is to use my planes to pressure UK/USA naval fleets as opposed to swapping on eastern front.
One + to you, blanc, I’ll try that strategy in my next game. Must do some number chrunching.
+1 karma from me too, never thought of that. I normally don’t buy aa guns but it’s true about psychological threat.
In one of my games, there were two deadzones W Rus and Ukr. W Rus had a aa gun and my friend as Russia sent overwhelming ground forces (6 inf, 3 arms vs. 1 arm) and no air due to the aa gun and sent to little forces with air support to (4 inf, 2 ftr vs. 4 arm) Ukr and suffered heavy casualties because of it.
I think I would have done the same. The odds are low of getting a hit but you remember the hits and not the misses.
Great point.
I have done some serious number crunching. I set up the numbers for trading with 1 inf/air, 2 inf/air and inf/art combo, in 1 IPC territory, 2 IPC territory and 3 IPC territory. The inf/art combo was the weakest, and the 2 inf/air was the most successfull.
good thought with the AA, I just wonder if it hurts Germanys production capacity and takes too long to get them to the front. I’ll have to try it. If nothing else it is a very intersting and intriguing concept
For me it depends on a lot of factors, how much air do I have, much is the Ter worth, is it a vital Ter to have, etc.
I’ll usually go 2 inf with air (vs. 1 inf) in most cases. But if there are 2 defending inf and I have overwhelming air (3-4 planes), I’ll match and go 2 vs. 2. With less air I may go 3 inf vs. 2, and for things that may not be that important but I’d like to try I’ll match and go 1 inf + planes vs. 1 inf.
In the case of Russia where planes (either 1 plane or no planes) may be light, I vary anywhere from sending in:
2 inf, 1 inf + 1 rt, 2 inf + 1 rt, 3 inf
These would be for the situation when attacking only 1 inf.
I try to preserve my rt and arm so I use Inf attacks only when possible. The odds aren’t that much different.
Win % (attacking 1 inf)
2 inf = 67%
1 inf, 1 rt = 87%
2 inf, 1 rt = 97%
3 inf = 90%
So unless it is a ter that I must take to maintain the deadzone and prevent the other side from being able to land planes for added defense if they choose to try and stack, I’ll use inf only attacks when I can.
For me it depends on a lot of factors, how much air do I have, much is the Ter worth, is it a vital Ter to have, etc.
I’ll usually go 2 inf with air (vs. 1 inf) in most cases. But if there are 2 defending inf and I have overwhelming air (3-4 planes), I’ll match and go 2 vs. 2. With less air I may go 3 inf vs. 2, and for things that may not be that important but I’d like to try I’ll match and go 1 inf + planes vs. 1 inf.
In the case of Russia where planes (either 1 plane or no planes) may be light, I vary anywhere from sending in:
2 inf, 1 inf + 1 rt, 2 inf + 1 rt, 3 inf
These would be for the situation when attacking only 1 inf.I try to preserve my rt and arm so I use Inf attacks only when possible. The odds aren’t that much different.
Win % (attacking 1 inf)
2 inf = 67%
1 inf, 1 rt = 87%
2 inf, 1 rt = 97%
3 inf = 90%So unless it is a ter that I must take to maintain the deadzone and prevent the other side from being able to land planes for added defense if they choose to try and stack, I’ll use inf only attacks when I can.
Agreed here- air power measurement influences this the most as well as if the territory is coastal.
It’s also important to consider what is behind the dead zone. It may be a vital territory meaning that your opponent will risk airforce to clear your zone of anything up to three or more inf.
A common example is in Revised. For instance, Russia has a stack in Ukraine. Germany has a stack in E.Europe. So the German player puts an inf in Balkans as a picket. This has happened more than once when I have played on Gametable online. It should be a novices mistake - but this happensmore often than you would think so the Uk sends a bomber over Balkans and clears it and the 8/9 Russian tanks can have a pop straight at Germany or even if Germany is stacked:Italy.
Even in situations where the German player has put three inf I’ve taken the risk of two ftrs and a bmbr if I’m confident that the Russians can get Germany next go.
